Final-year medical students’ ratings of service-learning activities during an integrated primary care block

Abstract

Background. Service learning (SL) has as its pedagogy the ability to link medical education to the community through the identification of healthcare needs for citizens residing in rural and urban underserved communities. Integrated Primary Care (IPC) is a clinical block through which final-year medical students manage common presenting problems in context and engage the community in a reciprocal manner.

Objective. To assess the educational value and enjoyment of the 27 SL activities (SLAs) undertaken by final-year medical students as part of the IPC block.

Methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among final-year medical students (N=245), focusing on logbook activities during 1 academic year.

Results. Students reported positively on the educational value of the majority of the 17 clinical SLAs, but only 3 activities were ranked the same for enjoyment and educational value. For non-clinical activities, only 2 of 10 were matched for educational and enjoyment value. There was no significant difference in the rating of educational value and enjoyment between rural and urban underserved sites.

Conclusions. The study provided insight into clinical and non-clinical SLAs that accumulate value for students when they are based in primary healthcare settings. The lack of enjoyment on reflective activities is a concern that should be explored through a qualitative review of SLAs.